


I See a Burning Future

by fardreamer333, kira2127



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: I See Fire, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-02-21 05:30:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2456540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fardreamer333/pseuds/fardreamer333, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kira2127/pseuds/kira2127
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'I See Fire' as told by the Company. One shot songfic</p>
            </blockquote>





	I See a Burning Future

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: A co-songfic, written by kira2127 and myself. ‘I See Fire’ as told by the characters themselves. Enjoy! Review!
> 
> No infringement intended.

The night was fair and the breeze was light, as if mocking the Company and the terror they had just experienced not three hours before. 

The place where the Dwarves set up camp was merely where they fell, exhausted unable to take another step away from the Carrock. Though the threat lay miles behind the company, the fear still lay close to their hearts, shaking their nerves and causing tremors in their faith within themselves. Some lay upon the ground, silent and unmoving, dwelling in the horror that they had just experienced in the Goblin caves. Some, such as Bilbo, still lay quivering with fear, their breath coming rapid and uneven, as if the Orc pack was still on their heels.

None of them knew how long they lay there, and none could name the reason exactly why. All they knew was that they were alive, and lucky to be so, and that for the moment they were safe.

Bilbo had just regained his breath when Thorin called out to the Company to move once more.

“Come on now, they are not that far behind us. We have to get as far as we can before sundown.”

“Give them a break, laddie,” Balin called out from his place on the ground next Ori, where the young dwarf was still quivering. “We’re safe enough here, and there is not that much light left anyway. Let us set up camp here.”

Thorin looked around at the ragged group, and must have heard the wisdom in Balin’s words because he merely nodded and said, “See to it then.”

Those who could force their legs to work stood and started to set up camp. Bilbo stood and looked around to see if there was anything he could do to help, however he felt more like he was in the way than anything else. So he stayed back and watched as Gloin collected dry wood and started the fire, Bombur and Bofur set about making a stew, Dori fussed about Ori, and Oin fussed about those who had been injured.

It wasn’t long before the fire was crackling and the stew was set to boil. The Company gathered around the fire to warm themselves both in body and in spirit, however it seemed that not even the bright mirth of the fire could penetrate the sorrow that had set upon them that day.

Bilbo joined the Company that had circled around the flame. Most of them stayed silent, but eventually merry Bofur tried to pick up a conversation with no one in particular.

“Well that was a joyous little jaunt.”

The entire Company merely looked at him. 

“What? I would wager that there’ll even be songs written about our little escapade today.”

“Aye, the lad’s right,” said Gloin after a moment. “Great epics and ballads, lovely rhymes about our little skip down the hill.” The sarcasm dripped from his tongue.

“Just you wait, Master Gloin,” Bofur countered. “Why, I can already hear them coming from the voices of men laboring in the field, children playing in woods, and old women working by the hearth...”

Suddenly Ori spoke up. “Let’s have a song then!” The lad’s voice brought smiles to even the most sour of lips.

A chorus of “Aye!” arose.

“Who shall it be then,” Balin asked, seizing the opportunity to lighten the mood. “Who would care forever immortalize the heroic deeds of our day?”

This overstatement brought many a chuckle, however these were killed instantaneously when Bofur spoke up.

“I’ll do it!”

“No! If I have to hear one more of your stupid little ditties, I will –”

“I volunteer!”

“You couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket!”

“Oin hasn’t had a turn yet!”

“For a good reason laddie.”

“You’re one to talk –”

The ruckus of the volunteers and nay-sayers escalated until Thorin’s thunderous voice cut through the rabble.

“Bilbo.”

They all felt silent.

Bilbo looked up from his place on the ground. The dwarvish king was looking him straight in the eye. It was not a suggestion to the group, but rather a commanding request directed straight at him.

“You have proved yourself in battle, and surprised us all. Perhaps you could do the same in this. Sing for us, Master Hobbit.”

Bilbo shuffled uncomfortably with all eyes on him.

“Well, I… I-I don’t know if I am worthy of such an honor. As I am not of your kind… I don’t think I am capable of singing of such great deeds. In the Shire we only sing of simple things –”

Balin’s chuckle interrupted him.

“Simple? Lad, if you have proven anything, it is that Hobbits are far from simple.”

Another of chorus of “Aye” arose, now laden with expectance.

“Well... I do not know if I can sing of the memories of today yet… They are still too fresh and… horrible. But… there are heavy things of the morrow that perhaps I could put into tune,” Bilbo said with a look of contemplation.

“Let’s hear it then,” Thorin said softly.

Clearing his throat and reaching behind him to untie the last possession of his that still remained intact, Bilbo gently brought around his stringed instrument that had been strapped to his back since Bag End, now only being used for the first time on this wretched journey.

Bilbo strummed a couple bars on his guitar, trying to pick out an appropriate melody. He suddenly paused with inspiration, his fingers finding the chords that he desired seemingly by magic. With his eyes downcast, he began the haunting melody of what he hoped would never come to be. 

 

“Oh, misty eye of the mountain below,”

 

The air stilled and every eye came to rest upon the small creature who had suddenly summoned a silent force that none could have named even if they had tried. Bilbo looked around, and through his eyes, his tongue found the words.

 

“Keep careful watch of my brothers’ souls

And should the sky be filled with fire and smoke  
Keep watching over Durin's sons.”

 

Bilbo’s thoughts raced about what he had learned during this journey. About the history that he had somehow gotten caught up in the writing of. He thought about the peoples that could all be affected if their quest was successful. Or if it failed.

 

“If this is to end in fire  
Then we should all burn together  
Watch the flames climb high into the night

Calling out father, oh,  
Stand by and we will  
Watch the flames burn auburn on  
The mountain side high,"

 

Bilbo thought he heard another melodious voice join in with his. However, the song had carried him so deep within the rhythm that the voices seemed as one.

 

"And if we should die tonight  
Then we should all die together  
Raise a glass of wine for the last time

Calling out father, oh,  
Prepare as we will  
Watch the flames burn auburn on  
The mountain side  
Desolation comes upon the sky

Now I see fire  
Inside the mountain  
I see fire  
Burning the trees  
And I see fire  
Hollowing souls  
I see fire  
Blood in the breeze  
And I hope that you remember me.”

 

Suddenly the notes of Bilbo’s guitar no longer floated alone on the evening breeze. The sweet notes of a violin softly followed in the footsteps of the guitar’s melody. Bilbo looked up, and was pleasantly surprised to see Bofur, who had been the other voice to pick up the song, gliding his bow across his scuffed fiddle. With a twinkle in his eye, the miner winked at Bilbo. 

A smile on his face, Bilbo continued on with this new accompaniment. He let Bofur begin to tell the story of the mountain as only the dwarves remembered it.

 

“Oh, should my people fall  
Then surely I'll do the same  
Confined in mountain halls  
We got too close to the flame

Calling out father, oh,  
Hold fast and we will  
Watch the flames burn auburn on  
The mountain side  
Desolation comes upon the sky."

 

Ori's sweet tenor and Nori soft baritone voices slipped in with the violin strings, weaving through the song and bringing a subtle brightness to the music's tapestry.

 

"Now I see fire  
Inside the mountain  
I see fire  
Burning the trees  
I see fire  
Hollowing souls  
I see fire  
Blood in the breeze  
And I hope that you remember me."

 

The deep bases of Dwalin and Gloin took up the song, bringing heft and weight to the depths of the melody. The immense power that the song now carried weighed down on the company, yet filled them with strength of spirit.

 

“And if the night is burning  
I will cover my eyes  
For if the dark returns  
Then my brothers will die  
And as the sky is falling down  
It crashed into this lonely town  
And with that shadow upon the ground  
I hear my people screaming out,”

 

Bilbo didn't know how it happened, or where the words came from, but the each voice of the company picked up the song, either fading in and gently added to the verse, or suddenly taking up the chorus with a mighty force. 

Though none of them had ever heard nor thought the words before, there was something that was just right and perfect that led their voices up through the evening air. Something pure and raw lent these humble mortals the color of its magnificent beauty. A river of force surged through their chests and up through their throat, creating a wavering and watery – No, a heat shimmering – image through the heavy clarity of the past. 

 

“Now I see fire  
Inside the mountains  
I see fire  
Burning the trees  
I see fire  
Hollowing souls  
I see fire  
Blood in the breeze,”

 

Bilbo closed his eye and felt the throb of the company’s voices seep into the night. Yet, there was still one voice missing…

 

“I see fire,”

 

It was then that Thorin’s baritone rounded off the final corner of the song, solidifying its perfection and the reality that it created out of thin air.

 

“Oh you know I saw a city burning,” Thorin called.

“Fire,” the company answered. “And I see fire.” 

“Feel the heat upon my skin, yeah,” Thorin continued to complement the song and finish off the beautiful nightmare that they could all see before them.

“Fire,”

“And I see fire,”

“Oh-oh-ooooh…”

“Fire,”

“And I see fire burn auburn on the mountain side.”


End file.
